Come one, come all, to the annual Dragon*Con Fark Party, this year conveniently located NOT in a host hotel so that Non-Con-Goers can have a chance to attend.

Finding the Farkers: Look for the blonde nerd with the very embarrassed looking fiancée. Or, I'll have my above-average-intelligence phone complete with e-mail with me, so I'm sure you can figure something out.

Parking: Might be tight, but the garage in the Suntrust Plaza building validates parking, so I'd suggest parking there. If you can't find parking there, NYAH NYAH NYAH I CAN'T HEAR YOU.

The Parade: I know it's right after the parade, but seriously, man up, nancy. I'm marching in the parade and making this happen; the least you can do is show up.

Other Info: I apologize in advance for not having a Leeloo-in-bandages costume, but I might be wearing Dr Horrible? That's sexy, right? RIGHT?!

Let me know if you have any questions! I have e-mail and if you know who I am on Facebook, you can message me there, too.

Though I believe Wizard World is a company that goes around having conventions in different cities.

Really that's it???? I thought they had different themes or topics they discussed. I keep hearing that people are mad at the comic one for not being about comics anymore and dragon was better but then there is no way they're only talking about dragons. I don't know, I'm confused.

Tat'dGreaser:Really that's it???? I thought they had different themes or topics they discussed. I keep hearing that people are mad at the comic one for not being about comics anymore and dragon was better but then there is no way they're only talking about dragons. I don't know, I'm confused.

Pretty much...I mean, some of them have different focuses...like Otakon in Baltimore & Momocon in Atlanta are mostly anime stuff, but they have other stuff. Celebration is only Star Wars, though.

DragonCon runs the whole gambit of topics...it's almost like a bunch of conventions in one. I guess you could say it's a pop culture convention. There's a Brit Track for people who like Doctor Who and Sherlock. There's a Writers Track. There's a Skeptics Track. Pretty much anything you can think of.

Tat'dGreaser:I've been wondering, what is the difference between the cons? Like comic, dragon and wonder. What sets them apart?

There's no hard definition. But the big three are the San Diego Comic-Con, New York Comic-Con and Dragon*Con.

The biggest difference is: Comic-Cons are trade shows, run by the industry. They're huge, well-funded, organized and draw a lot of celebrity presence. Dragon*Con is a nerd party where the inmates run the asylum. It's less of a "come here and buy stuff" convention and more of a "wear a costume and get drunk" convention. Total attendence can't really be compared as the cons count people differently, but they're all drawing 50,000+ over the weekend.

Parking Tip: Park at a MARTA station and take MARTA in to Peachtree Center Station. Parking and traffic are insane that weekend.

We opted for a location off the Dragon*Con grounds this year, as several Farkers were blocked from entry last year due to not having a Dragon*Con badge. If you do want to go to Dragon*Con itself, the con is a block away.

Alpha Sierra Foxtrot:Pretty much...I mean, some of them have different focuses...like Otakon in Baltimore & Momocon in Atlanta are mostly anime stuff, but they have other stuff. Celebration is only Star Wars, though.

DragonCon runs the whole gambit of topics...it's almost like a bunch of conventions in one. I guess you could say it's a pop culture convention. There's a Brit Track for people who like Doctor Who and Sherlock. There's a Writers Track. There's a Skeptics Track. Pretty much anything you can think of.

Kyro:There's no hard definition. But the big three are the San Diego Comic-Con, New York Comic-Con and Dragon*Con.

The biggest difference is: Comic-Cons are trade shows, run by the industry. They're huge, well-funded, organized and draw a lot of celebrity presence. Dragon*Con is a nerd party where the inmates run the asylum. It's less of a "come here and buy stuff" convention and more of a "wear a costume and get drunk" convention. Total attendence can't really be compared as the cons count people differently, but they're all drawing 50,000+ over the weekend.

Oh well I didn't even know there were that many

Ahhhh so that explains the hate some people have for the traditional Comic Con. Ok now I get it. I was watching a video on the cosplay stuff (cause like ya know boobs and stuff) and I realized I didn't even know what 90% of the costumes were but it seemed like anything goes and you could do whatever you wanted. I really do not have the imagination to do that, even for Halloween :/

For me Dragoncon is a 4 day costume party with some celebrity panels and concerts thrown in. I think comic con has 3x the people there. Comic con seems to have a bigger emphasis on sneak peaks for new movies whereas dragoncon focuses on stuff that already came out. I havent done comic con yet though. I am not sure about the point of having a fark party at dragoncon- the whole con is geeks and there is too much going on to schedule anything!

Honestly by any definition of a con there's hundreds across the continent each year. Most of them are dinky one-day affairs that go on for a few hours and end on schedule. It's just the big ones that people tend to hear about.

And yeah, +1 for costume boobs. The costuming community has gotten huge and has become an art form in and of itself. The creativity and ingenuity that goes into some of these things can be mind-boggling.

I went last year after missing out for the past 10 years+ and found that this is a Movie+Anime+TV Series festival. Do not go there and expect gaming to be front and center like it once used to be. This is a straight up ComicCon of the South and although geek stuff is present it is by no means out in the open like it once was. I remember when Video Games, Role Playing games, gaming auctions were all over the place. I went scouring for RPG gear and found a handful of booths (1 run by Steve Jackson Games) buried in a hall room off to the side. Beyond that it was all Big Bang Theory, Hercules, BSG, and other tropes of the industry.

The Indie movie reviews were fun, the amateur wrestling a blast, and the robotics stuff (homemade R2 units) were enjoyable to see but DC is not for me anymore. Too many people, too damn hot, and nothing I want to see or do there. If it wasn't for my local friends who were LEO and knew the backroads in and out of places (it's amazing how flashing a badge even in an outfit opens doors for you)I would have had an even worse time.

Kyro:Honestly by any definition of a con there's hundreds across the continent each year. Most of them are dinky one-day affairs that go on for a few hours and end on schedule. It's just the big ones that people tend to hear about.

And yeah, +1 for costume boobs. The costuming community has gotten huge and has become an art form in and of itself. The creativity and ingenuity that goes into some of these things can be mind-boggling.

Ohhhhh duh, con = convention. Christ I'm an idiot........

Yea I came for the cleavage and stayed for some of the cooler costumes. I mean yea you gotta stay for some of the really bad ones too

Kyro:Parking Tip: Park at a MARTA station and take MARTA in to Peachtree Center Station. Parking and traffic are insane that weekend.

We opted for a location off the Dragon*Con grounds this year, as several Farkers were blocked from entry last year due to not having a Dragon*Con badge. If you do want to go to Dragon*Con itself, the con is a block away.

I think it changed. I went three/four years ago and we could wander the hotels freely without a badge. That's not the case anymore right?

atlfarkette:Kyro: Parking Tip: Park at a MARTA station and take MARTA in to Peachtree Center Station. Parking and traffic are insane that weekend.

We opted for a location off the Dragon*Con grounds this year, as several Farkers were blocked from entry last year due to not having a Dragon*Con badge. If you do want to go to Dragon*Con itself, the con is a block away.

I think it changed. I went three/four years ago and we could wander the hotels freely without a badge. That's not the case anymore right?

Churchill92:I went last year after missing out for the past 10 years+ and found that this is a Movie+Anime+TV Series festival. Do not go there and expect gaming to be front and center like it once used to be. This is a straight up ComicCon of the South and although geek stuff is present it is by no means out in the open like it once was. I remember when Video Games, Role Playing games, gaming auctions were all over the place. I went scouring for RPG gear and found a handful of booths (1 run by Steve Jackson Games) buried in a hall room off to the side. Beyond that it was all Big Bang Theory, Hercules, BSG, and other tropes of the industry.

The Indie movie reviews were fun, the amateur wrestling a blast, and the robotics stuff (homemade R2 units) were enjoyable to see but DC is not for me anymore. Too many people, too damn hot, and nothing I want to see or do there. If it wasn't for my local friends who were LEO and knew the backroads in and out of places (it's amazing how flashing a badge even in an outfit opens doors for you)I would have had an even worse time.

Nothing to do there? Really? For me there is too much to do! So many panels, so many awesome costumes, concerts, etc. I am not much of a gamer- I think they still have it in the basement LOL. I just wish I had more time!

Tat'dGreaser:Yea I came for the cleavage and stayed for some of the cooler costumes. I mean yea you gotta stay for some of the really bad ones too

F*ck I wish I was creative

Most of the costumes are direct recreations of actual characters. The creativity comes into play in actually replicating the outfit. And most of the good ideas there come from industry people that've had generations of experience working with them. Step 1 is usually finding a costume you've got an interest in and attempting to build it.

Churchill92:I went last year after missing out for the past 10 years+ and found that this is a Movie+Anime+TV Series festival. Do not go there and expect gaming to be front and center like it once used to be. This is a straight up ComicCon of the South and although geek stuff is present it is by no means out in the open like it once was. I remember when Video Games, Role Playing games, gaming auctions were all over the place. I went scouring for RPG gear and found a handful of booths (1 run by Steve Jackson Games) buried in a hall room off to the side. Beyond that it was all Big Bang Theory, Hercules, BSG, and other tropes of the industry.

The Indie movie reviews were fun, the amateur wrestling a blast, and the robotics stuff (homemade R2 units) were enjoyable to see but DC is not for me anymore. Too many people, too damn hot, and nothing I want to see or do there. If it wasn't for my local friends who were LEO and knew the backroads in and out of places (it's amazing how flashing a badge even in an outfit opens doors for you)I would have had an even worse time.

atlfarkette:I think it changed. I went three/four years ago and we could wander the hotels freely without a badge. That's not the case anymore right?

It did change. The highschool jock/nerd war continued on, as word has it some roving crowds of football fans snuck into the con in 2010 and sexually assaulted some of the convention girls. Since then they locked it down: you show a hotel card or a convention badge to get in. No exceptions.

Kyro:Most of the costumes are direct recreations of actual characters. The creativity comes into play in actually replicating the outfit. And most of the good ideas there come from industry people that've had generations of experience working with them. Step 1 is usually finding a costume you've got an interest in and attempting to build it.

Oh I mean creative as in number 1, picking a good idea. I can't even do that! I've had some great ideas for kick ass Halloween costumes but then never follow through

Kyro:It did change. The highschool jock/nerd war continued on, as word has it some roving crowds of football fans snuck into the con in 2010 and sexually assaulted some of the convention girls. Since then they locked it down: you show a hotel card or a convention badge to get in. No exceptions.

it's also unconfirmed. No arrests were made and the girls claiming to be victims refused to out themselves. But the convention certainly took it seriously enough to overhaul security. So take that for what it's worth.

Kyro:it's also unconfirmed. No arrests were made and the girls claiming to be victims refused to out themselves. But the convention certainly took it seriously enough to overhaul security. So take that for what it's worth.

Well hopefully they overhauled security over nothing which still isn't a bad thing

The main hotel areas get really crowded on saturday nights- if they didnt limit people the fire marshall would get involved. I am glad they check badges- since a lot of drunk frat boys have started to try to crash it.

The drunk football fans are mostly there because the Chick-fil-a kickoff classic games are there that weekend. You have fans from four different big football schools (many who could never actually get into these schools) mixed in with the DragonCon people. It makes a bit of a mess. By checking badges, only football fans staying at the convention hotels can get in and most don't because the rooms are already booked by con attendees.

My question is has DragonCon fixed the badge pick up problem? I went a few years ago and waited two hours to pick up a badge I paid for months in advance. I was told this was a one time problem, so I bought a badge again the next year and ended up standing in line for four hours to pick it up. That was it for me. If they can't mail the thing to me, I'm going to walk over to the parade (I live a few blocks away) but not bother with going to the con itself.

I used to pay at the door since it was way faster. 2 years ago they implemented a new system which worked great until the machines went down. Last year I gave prereg a shot and there was no line- it took 10 mins tops on thurs afternoon.

I used to pay at the door since it was way faster. 2 years ago they implemented a new system which worked great until the machines went down. Last year I gave prereg a shot and there was no line- it took 10 mins tops on thurs afternoon.

Yeah, I started going in 2011 and haven't had an issue except that I forgot the blue card they mailed me so I had to go stand in the sadtrombone line.

Nothing to do there? Really? For me there is too much to do! So many panels, so many awesome costumes, concerts, etc. I am not much of a gamer- I think they still have it in the basement LOL. I just wish I had more time!

Nothing to do there? Really? For me there is too much to do! So many panels, so many awesome costumes, concerts, etc. I am not much of a gamer- I think they still have it in the basement LOL. I just wish I had more time!

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Hey man, you were the one that came into the Dragon*Con thread to cropdust Farkers with your displeased critique that nobody asked for.